Broken Down Like This
by LNHWrites
Summary: Reboot (CW) Falliam-centric fic based off of "New Lady In Town" and plot elements of the original show (see A/N) - When Adam finally crosses the line by attacking Fallon, Liam decides he has to seek out help from the one person who confuses him above all others: Blake. (Trigger Warning: assault, see A/N)
1. Chapter 1

**First off, Trigger Warning: This story is based around knowledge of Adam Carrington's character in the original version of Dynasty, and theories going around about him in his new incarnation. That plot in particular involved him raping another character who later married him. As someone who has dealt personally with assault (not rape), I could never bring myself to write out something like that. So this story MENTIONS/is based upon assault (again, not rape, and not written out) in the fictional sense, but with that in mind, I strongly advise that you not read this if that will be upsetting for you. Personally, it has been nearly eight years since what happened to me, and while I understand that others may not want to read this, it's easier for me to write about something than just talk about it, and so this, honestly, is kind of a story for me. I hope that in some way, other people can get something out of it, but I obviously won't be offended if you don't.**

**This is intended as a multi-chapter, Falliam-centric story that is … mostly cannon through "New Lady in Town." With an exception when it comes to Blake's likely upcoming plotline, as will be explained straight away. So if you're not caught up, beware of immediate spoilers. And expect this to basically be AU.**

**Disclaimer: I mean, of course I don't own anything. Haha.**

**Clearly I'm anxious about this one, but if you're still with me, let's just get into it, shall we?**

* * *

The absolute last thing Liam was expecting that morning was a call from Blake. Mercifully, for the Carrington family if no one else, Blake had very quickly paid off the right people and made the right deals to get out of trouble. It helped, of course, that he also had Cristal's father to throw under the bus. That was a fight that Liam had no intention of asking about. But he answered the phone even while he continued to sign copies of his book.

And man, if that in itself wasn't a crazy feeling.

"Hello?" He greeted cautiously.

"Liam? You need to come to the manor. Immediately."

With a deep frown on his face, Liam slowed his pen to a stop. "...Is something wrong?"

"It's Fallon," Blake said. Something about his tone of voice finally became clear to Liam: He was... distressed. Afraid? Maybe just shaken. Blake was clearly trying to hide it, but either way, it set Liam completely on edge.

"On my way."

He hung up, slapped the pen down, and grabbed his keys before rushing out. He barely remembered to lock his apartment door, having to whip back around to do so. When he made it to his car, yanked the door open and slid inside, Liam had to take a second to shake himself. If he drove while fully panicked, the odds of him getting into a wreck and just making things worse went up exponentially. So he steadied his hands, and made sure his mind was focused on driving so he could hurry up and get to Fallon.

Far too long later, in his opinion, he pulled up right in front of the door and didn't even knock before walking inside. "Fallon?! Blake?"

From the office, the Carrington patriarch strode out, gesturing up the stairs. "In her room."

"What happened?" Liam asked, his feet already walking him towards the stairs even though he wanted to know. He couldn't very well walk into whatever was waiting for him without forewarning. Not when he was already so nervous.

"Adam... He attacked her. I heard her trying to fight him off." Blake shook his head, a level of fury on his face that Liam honestly never expected when it came to Adam. "It was..." Blake trailed off, unable to explain it properly to someone like Liam. "Just be careful with her, okay?"

"Damn." Liam ran a hand through his hair, astounded. Or he thought he was, anyway. But it was Adam they were talking about, after all. "He- he didn't hurt her did he?"

"No. I stopped him before he got... far enough."

Liam saw nothing but red for a second. He knew exactly what Blake meant, and the fact that he couldn't own up and call his son what Adam so clearly was? Well. That didn't sit well with Liam at all. But he had bigger things to attend to – namely, he needed to check on the woman he loved. "He- He seriously-? What the hell?"

"I'm not convinced he's who we thought he was anymore."

"You'd think," Liam snapped, "that after Hank, you'd have done a better job of proving if he wasn't or not."

"Just try and keep your head on straight until we know how she's doing, will you?" Blake gestured up to the second floor. "I sent him away, but... she hasn't come out since."

Liam nodded, turning to rush up the stairs and head straight for her room. It shocked him that she hadn't so much as texted him. But he also couldn't imagine how she felt, either. So he figured it must be best to tread carefully and let her lead whatever their conversation would be. Or, perhaps, wouldn't be.

"Fallon?" He called softly, hoping not to startle her as he tapped on her closed door. "Can I come in?"

He heard some kind of muffled, unintelligible response, so he hesitated slightly, before deciding to turn the handle. Liam cracked the door open, stopping when he saw the lump of blankets in the middle of Fallon's bed. He could only assume it looked like that because she had burrowed her way under there.

"Sorry, Fal. I couldn't hear you."

"I said sure," she mumbled, shifting around under the covers.

Liam closed the door behind him before picking up a chair and bringing it over to sit beside the bed on the side she was facing. "Hi," he greeted gently, taking in her unusual lack of makeup and the way she had the blankets pulled up all the way to her chin. She looked like she'd been crying for quite some time, and he yet again had to wonder why he was only just hearing about this.

Fallon didn't open her eyes to look at him, but offered a, "Hey," in return.

"You're not... in pain, are you? Can I get you anything?"

She shook her head, her eyes flicking open a little but not enough for her to meet his gaze. "No, nothing hurts, exactly."

"That doesn't change the question. Do you need anything?"

"Who told you?"

Liam frowned, taken aback by the sharpness of her question. Did she not want him to check in? Perhaps Blake had overreached, not realizing that she wanted time alone to process. Liam obviously didn't know quite how to react to something like this, but mostly he didn't want to make anything worse. "Blake said I needed to come over. I- I can go, Fallon, if you don't-"

"It's okay."

He wanted to believe her. He did. But she didn't sound sure of herself, and she still hadn't so much as glanced his way. "Fallon?" She just waited for him to continue, so after a few moments, he did. "I don't know how you're feeling right now. Of course I don't. But I know that you are the strongest person I've ever met. You were strong before, and what happened can't take that from you. You know that, right?"

Fallon's eyebrows pulled together slightly, and he watched her lift one shoulder, withdrawn in a way that was completely foreign to him. His gaze dropped to the ground in response.

"Listen, I understand if you're mad at me," he continued. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here. I just thought, with the whole arrest thing, and our plans falling short, maybe you wanted some space."

When he looked up again, she had finally tilted her chin back enough to meet his eye. But he hadn't expected her to be angry with him so suddenly.

"It wasn't your fault."

"...It wasn't yours either, Fal."

She rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling as she pursed her lips. "I knew provoking him would make him snap. But I didn't expect..."

"Of course you didn't," he agreed. "Nobody would've expected their own family to-" He cut himself off, figuring he would only make things worse. And he clearly was right about that, because a hand snuck out from under her blanket to wipe at her cheek and Liam sighed heavily. "Sorry. Maybe I should give you some time."

He started to stand, but she reached out to catch his arm, pouting up at him. "I'm sorry," she told him.

"What for?" Liam twisted his arm a little to offer his hand, palm up, for her to take.

Fallon tugged a little and he carefully sat himself down on the edge of the bed, setting their hands on the comforter between them. "We both know I was... putting things off when it came to us. We could've left, or just gone to your place. Or rented a hotel room, or – I mean, anything. I know that. I'm pretty sure _you_ know that. But I just thought... before you, all of my relationships started with the physical side. And I felt like, if we did something, that things would change."

"First off," he began slowly, "we really don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. Not right now."

"I know. But now...? Liam, things are different, now. I just really don't think I can-"

"I know," he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I would never expect it of you, especially after something like this. But second... Fallon, I love you. Yes, you are beautiful. Attractive. But do you not remember what I said at the divorce party? I love you for so many other reasons. More important reasons. Honestly? Yeah, I've hoped for that sort of closeness with you for a long time. But despite the way things might've seemed, especially the night of the party, who you are and who I am with you? That comes first. Always. I'm sorry you thought otherwise."

Her gaze fell to their hands, expression turning remorseful. "It isn't because it's _you_, Liam. It's- everything I've been through. I wanted us to be different. I wanted to give us time."

"Fallon. Sweetheart, I mean it, it's okay." Liam nodded firmly to try and make her really understand. "If you ever think I would put something like that above what we have already, Fallon, you're mistaken. Okay?"

"Sorry."

She burrowed a little deeper into her blankets and Liam reached out with his free hand to cradle the one of hers he was already holding. "You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to. Just tell me what you need right now, Fal. We'll work on it from there, okay?"

"Just... stay?" She requested, looking a little more hopeful now. "I just need to wallow for a bit. Then I can get back to work."

"Understandable. Of course I'll stay. Always." He looked around the room as she got comfortable, and spotted a copy of his book sitting on her bedside table. He'd known how well she liked it, but seeing it right there made him smile and instinctively reach out to pick it up.

Fallon shifted, moving away from him before she patted the blankets. "At least get comfortable. Maybe you could read me some of that."

"Read it to you?" He actually chuckled a little at that, turning himself around after toeing off his shoes so he could settled back against the headboard.

"I mean... I could sort of imagine it in your voice, but if you're going to do readings at your book signings, you may as well get some experience, right?" She cracked a smile, and the sight of it had him completely unable to say no.

So despite feeling a little embarrassed at first, he slid the book jacket off, setting that aside to keep it nice, and was surprised when he opened the book, finding she'd marked a page during what appeared to be a re-read. He looked over at her, nearly smirking, and she blushed, inching a little closer to him.

"Just- just read it, okay?"

He nodded, patting her hand before picking up where she left off, evidently providing some kind of distraction for her undoubtedly still-spinning mind. Liam wasn't sure how long he actually read, considering they both sort of fell into it. After a while, though, he realized that she'd stopped moving around, stopped reacting when he reached a line or a part that she liked.

Looking down, he stopped to check on her. She seemed to have fallen asleep, which he hoped was a sign that she had managed to relax. Not a sign that his voice was so boring that she couldn't take it anymore. But she looked peaceful, and he would take that either way. It was infinitely better than the huddled, hurt woman he'd discovered upon entering the room.

Liam wasn't sure what made him angrier – Adam going after Laura, or Fallon. Frankly, he had both ranking incredibly highly when it came to how disgusting he thought they were, though he knew one was innately worse than the other upon the assumption that Adam really was a Carrington. But it didn't change the fact that Adam was using Liam's mother, too, whether she knew it or not, and that vengeful mean streak Liam was starting to recognize in himself was building back up. He got the distinct feeling that Fallon wouldn't really want him to put himself in Adam's crosshairs, but Liam knew now that he would be _damned_ if he didn't ensure that Adam was gone for good.

He waited a few seconds, and when she didn't raise a protest against the fact that he'd stopped reading, he decided that she was definitely asleep. So he left the book, his phone, his shoes – everything, in hopes that if she awoke before he returned, she wouldn't think he'd just left. And then he made his way downstairs to have a word with Blake.


	2. Chapter 2

**Huge Apology for the delay. I'm two weeks away from completing a program, and just started a new job that I really love. But I also had two new story ideas? SEND HELP.**

* * *

When Fallon awoke, she was alone again. For a moment, she felt a shocking wave of fear that she almost didn't recognize. But of course, things came rushing back in. The fear and the shame that somehow felt like it belonged to her when she was pretty sure that it shouldn't. Isn't that what people always said about moments like these? That it wasn't her fault? Liam had said so. But Fallon wasn't lying. She'd provoked him.

Adam was taking her last round of scheming hard, which was fair, but he had been practically stalking her ever since, like he was waiting to get the drop on her before she could on him. Which she'd originally thought was also rather fair. Until, that is, he showed up at Femperial and made a scene in front of a potential new author. He kept talking about the company as if Fallon didn't really know how to run it, but they were _trying so hard_ to figure it out. She couldn't figure out how to get rid of him, and in the end, she'd asked the author to reschedule so Fallon and Kirby could work on a proper pitch without outside parties like Adam interfering.

That day, she'd gone home for lunch to tell Adam off, regardless of what Blake thought. Sure, she wanted Blake to see that Adam was a lying, treacherous leech. But that could come later. For now, she just knew that she wanted him to break. Perhaps if she made him lash out like he had at the Atlantix party, she could make it happen somewhere that someone like Anders or Cristal would see.

Fallon knew that out of everyone, Anders was the type to care, as he'd checked in on her twice since the Atlantix party a couple of days earlier. But Cristal could be a little scary when she wanted to be, and Fallon knew Cristal was on the outs with Blake after he turned her father in. Maybe Fallon could get her to team up with her and Liam to finally get Blake to see the truth: Adam was dangerous, and he needed to go.

Cristal wasn't the one who'd shown up, though. Blake was. And perhaps it was the desperate way she reacted or how insane Adam looked, but something clicked for her father. He'd pulled Adam away by the scruff of his neck, like he would've with an animal, and declared that Adam couldn't possibly stay. Adam's arguments fell on bafflingly deaf ears, as Blake told Adam that he was no longer a Carrington – no longer to associate with them or their businesses.

Meanwhile, Fallon had escaped to her room, overwhelmed.

What kind of creep did something so awful? Fallon had always doubted all of Adam's stories about his past and who he was, so was this really a stretch? Clearly she'd been right about how deranged he was, hadn't she? There was no other explanation for it.

Her eyes landed on Liam's phone and book. She knew he'd left his things on purpose, and her heart only ached that much more with how much he meant to her. She hadn't been particularly good to him lately, all things considered. She'd tried to push Laura away, after all, though Fallon had obviously been right about that.

Still, nobody had ever been as proud of Fallon as Liam had. Not as far as she knew. Nobody had gone out of their way for her like he had. And she felt certain he would find a way to put some of this on himself – especially if she continued to stow herself away like this.

No matter what Fallon said, she knew Kirby could handle things relatively well without her, but it wasn't fair to Femperial or her team or her authors – Liam included – if she just disappeared. She had to keep moving. She had a need to prove to herself as well as to Adam that she was still okay. Still as strong as ever. Even if she didn't really feel that way. Pushing things down was the Carrington way, and she felt certain she could pull it off.

So she finally shoved back the covers and made her way into her closet to change. The clothes she'd been wearing when it happened, she stuffed into a box and set aside under the bottom rung of her closet. But then she got dressed and walked back over to the bed to collect Liam's things for him.

* * *

Liam and Blake sat across from each other in Blake's office, both of them still uncomfortable despite the necessary truce they'd come to for Fallon's sake.

"So I still don't see how there's any way to prove it," Liam was saying. "You can't be serious about the DNA test being a fake again."

"He's had access to everything. He could've just found Hank's and changed it, or altered records from former patients. If Fallon's right about the records he procured for your mother-"

"She is," Liam cut in sharply. He didn't want to think about it, but it was true. It had happened. He couldn't just pretend it hadn't. "That's fair. But didn't he know some... story or something about when Adam was kidnapped?"

Blake nodded slowly. "That's the tricky one."

"It's all tricky. Either he's not who he says he is, and that's next-level crazy," Liam mused, "or he absolutely is who he says he is, and then I'd need to see him locked up. Permanently."

They both stared each other down, neither giving an indication of which they thought was true.

There was a knock at the door, and at Blake's, "Come in," Liam turned over his shoulder to see who it was. His eyebrows flew up, and so did the man himself, at the sight of Fallon standing in the open doorway. She didn't look normal, exactly, but she looked better. She'd dressed much more conservatively than usual, but had done her makeup and stood almost as tall as ever.

"Fal."

She brought her hand around to her front, revealing his shoes with a mildly amused expression. He half-smiled in return as he walked over to take them and put them back on. Then she handed over his cellphone, too.

"Fallon," Blake had walked around to approach them, but didn't get too close. It was a wise choice for him to stop, of course, because Fallon tensed up slightly at the realization that he'd gotten up. "I'm going to handle this."

"You never believed me before," she pointed out. Her voice wasn't quite as strong as it usually was, but she obviously wasn't backing down. And Liam was proud of her for it.

"I saw it with my own eyes this time. I should've listened."

She frowned, clearly baffled as to why he hadn't just heard her every time she'd said something. But then she simply nodded and held a hand out towards Liam. He hadn't expected her to want physical contact, no matter how small, and his hesitation made her start to pull back before he reached out to catch her hand in his. He was gentle with his hold on her, though, as she had expected.

Fallon turned over her shoulder, pulling Liam behind her, but didn't miss the look he gave Blake on their way out.

"Do I need to be worried?" She asked him quietly, bringing him with her towards the kitchen.

Liam didn't answer right away, which was response enough, but he did his best to keep things calm. "No, Fal. We'll take care of it."

"Who would've thought?" Fallon teased, only half-heartedly. "You and my dad."

He shrugged, figuring she'd see it his way eventually. "For once, we're on the same page. At least when it comes to you."

They walked into the kitchen, and Fallon let go of him to start picking through a plate of fruit that the staff had left out for whoever had missed lunch. Liam wasn't prepared to ask questions of her just yet, considering she was evidently acting normal - or pretending to, anyway. If she was ready to be out and about, he couldn't begrudge her that.

"Listen," she started, immediately making him even more concerned. Upon seeing the look on his face, Fallon held a placating hand up. "I wanted to ask if you would come to the office with me. I know you probably have other things to—"

"Of course," he agreed easily, taking a small step forward. Her eyes fell to his hand as it extended towards her, so he dropped it back to his side. "I'm not too busy for you. Ever." Especially not after what happened, but it wasn't untrue in a general sense, either.

"Even while you're scheming with Blake?"

Liam cracked a smile. "Even then. Did you want to go today? Or..?"

She hesitated before nodding and walking past him. Liam's eyebrows pulled together as he took a moment and then followed after her. It had never been this difficult to read her before, and that scared him a little. Just when they'd started to settle in, plans against Adam aside, something had predictably come along to mess everything up. Granted, Liam recognized the fact that his disappointment was nothing compared to what must've been twisting around inside of Fallon's mind.

So he followed her around as she got ready, pretending to just be waiting on her and playing around on his phone, but always allowing for enough space to ensure she wouldn't suddenly turn and run into him. He didn't quite know what was or wasn't okay, to be fair, so perhaps he was overcompensating. But it felt like the right thing to do.

He didn't take her hand in the car, either, like he usually would've (provided she wasn't using her phone, that is). By the time they got to the Femperial office, Fallon was no longer in a reserved mood. No, she was very clearly angry.

She brushed off her assistant on the way in, closing the door behind them before turning on Liam. "Stop it," she snapped, hands immediately jumping to her hips.

"Whoah," Liam held his hands up, eyes wide. "Stop what?"

She sighed, turning an unfamiliar shade of red in embarrassment. "You're just— you're acting weird, now. And I really need you to not do that."

He stepped towards her, reaching out with both hands. "Okay," he replied gently, his hands brushing down her arms so he could twine their fingers together. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just… I don't know, I wanted to make it easier on you. I wanted it to be clear that I don't have any expectations. Especially since we haven't…"

Fallon nodded, entirely aware of that fact. "I know. But I trust you, remember? We haven't always had it easy, I know that. But—"

"Fallon, you don't have to explain yourself to me. You don't. Whatever your level is, I'll match it."

She stepped forward, pulling her hands from his to wrap her arms around his neck. As her chin dropped to his shoulder, Liam's hands slid around her back to return the hug. "I know you probably have work to do," she told him, must softer now, "so you don't have to hover anything, but just… be nearby, okay?"

"You say that like it would pain me somehow to do that," he teased, pulling back to shoot her a serious look. "I'll be right here." He pointed at the chair across from her desk, and stepped away to sit down, immediately pulling out his laptop. He had a bit of research to do on the so-called Adam Carrington.

Fallon brushed down her skirt a little, taking a moment to really pull herself together, and then walked back over to the door, almost surprised to find her assistant still standing there anxiously. "Okay, what's on the schedule for today?"


	3. Chapter 3

Fallon was almost normal for a while, but around the end of the workday, she started acting a little strangely. Liam wasn't sure what it was but something wasn't quite right. Again. In his concern, he stopped working on his plans for the book tour and instead started subtly watching her out of the corner of his eye. He'd been checking on her throughout the shift of course, but now it was constant.

She was signing paperwork of some kind when he finally realized it was too much for her. Mainly he did so, of course, because she managed to rip a hole in the contract and groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

"Fallon?"

"I just need to reprint this," she told him firmly, sitting up straight and reaching for her laptop. But he was already at her side, his hand stilling hers. When she spoke again, she didn't sound sure at all. "I'm fine," she claimed.

He crouched down next to her chair, his free hand settling on the arm of it. "You're not. And that's okay. You don't have to tell me why, but-"

"I don't want to go back home," she blurted, seemingly surprised at herself for saying it aloud.

Liam wasn't exactly shocked. Why would she want to return to where it had happened? He couldn't imagine what it must be like to walk past that spot. That sort of thing could make a person relive trauma, he knew. His own experiences weren't nearly the same, but there was something strange and a little funny about the way that different senses could so easily force back memories he'd tried to forget.

"Okay," he agreed. "You don't have to. I can go get whatever you need."

She considered that, finally nodding her agreement. Liam suspected that her reluctance had to do with the potential of Adam returning to the manor, but he didn't really expect that to happen. At least, not straight away. But Liam couldn't exactly put it past the other man to plan something ridiculous after all of his previous schemes.

"I'll talk to your assistant about booking you a room for a while," Liam told her, standing up and aiming for the door.

Fallon caught his hand as he stepped away from her, and he turned back around instantly. "I can't stay with you?"

His eyebrow lifted in mild shock. "You sure you want to? We don't know if he's aware of where I live. He might be, considering-" Liam cut himself off, clearly disgusted.

She let out a sound of distaste and what sounded a little too similar to pain, and pitched a new idea: "Maybe we both need to go somewhere else, then." With that renewed sense of purpose, she turned to her computer and pulled up options for hotels – preferably one that the Carrington family wouldn't usually pick.

Liam dropped Fallon off in the room they'd booked after checking in, taking in the space that was theirs until... well, he didn't know how long. That in itself was unnerving. But they'd selected a room with a queen-sized bed and a couch that pulled out into an extra bed. Fallon had done her best to pretend she didn't care either way if they had the extra bed, but Liam wasn't about to push it. Besides, she needed a place that could feel like her own, however temporarily, in case he got caught up in this hunt to learn who the real Adam was. Or, more importantly, who the fake Adam was.

She decided to go run a bath just as he left, so he left her with good wishes for a bit of peace now that she had time on her own. She seemed less than confident about the odds of feeling content, but just agreed and saw him out after making sure he had a key to let himself back in.

He returned to the manor, indeed picking up some things that Anders had helped collect for Fallon, but he was interested in talking to Blake again before he left. So he stopped in at the office to the patriarch's door and knocked, accepting the call for him to enter. Blake looked up, a little surprised to see Liam there, but he gestured for him to come inside.

"I'm supposed to pick up some of Fallon's things. She's not feeling up to sleeping here, I guess," Liam explained, his tone not even slightly apologetic. He was talking to the man who'd let Adam into the house in the first place, not to mention the fact that he'd ignored Fallon's claims and urges to get rid of him.

Blake nodded slowly, his expression turning a little darker. "I've been looking over the documents we received from Atlanta PD back when we first lost him. But still there's no leads, even towards this Adam. And with his adoptive mother dying, it's like there's no trail at all. It'll take some time to get a PI and have them do further digging."

"All right. Maybe he told one of you things about his past that seemed... unimportant, before. It'd be worth asking around," Liam mused, tapping into his habit of reading all of those mystery novels.

That earned Liam a frustrated look, as if Blake wanted to say he wasn't stupid enough to not think of that, but the words didn't leave the man's mouth. Liam wasn't surprised, really. Blake didn't tend to go to others for help, so all of this was probably bizarre and unusual territory for him.

"I'll just head upstairs and grab the things she wanted," Liam continued.

Liam turned to head upstairs and search for everything on the list Fallon had texted him before he left. It felt almost eerie to be in her space without her. The room was empty and dark, and he just kept picturing the place he'd last seen her – in bed. Terrified and hurt. Though he hadn't fully processed his own reaction at the time, it hit him now that he really was still furious. He was disgusted, and knew that if Fallon had somehow been okay, he wouldn't have felt so hellbent on figuring out the truth about Adam. But she wasn't, and Liam definitely had to go through with it. Partly for him, but mostly for her.

It took some time, but as soon as he had everything she needed, he found Anders and Sam to ask them if they would help him bring her things down to his car. They looked like they wanted to ask questions, but just did as he asked, making sure nothing was forgotten.

Afterwards, Anders went back inside to help keep an eye on the dinner preparation, but Sam stopped Liam as he started to get into his car. "You're looking into Adam?"

Liam nodded. "I am. With Blake's help, I think."

"Ask Fallon about the trip she took with me," Sam told him seriously. "The one where we went to Adam's hometown."

Liam's eyebrows shot up in question. "When was this?"

"When he first showed up. She wanted to know if he was really a doctor. Obviously he wasn't anymore. But maybe she has some... contacts or something that you can reach out to."

Sam clearly wished he knew more, and that made Liam hesitate. "...Do you think he's staying somewhere nearby? Where did Blake send him?"

"I don't know. But make sure nobody knows where she's staying except you, yeah?"

Liam nodded, entirely on board with that line of thinking already. "Of course. I'll tell her you said hello." They exchanged nods and Liam shut his car door before heading back to the hotel.

It took a few minutes to get the luggage onto a cart so he could roll it upstairs to the room, but he made it up in the lift without issue and pushed the keycard into the door to open it up. He had to sort of angle himself sideways to start pulling the cart through the doorway while also holding the door, but as soon as the door shut behind him, Liam realized the hotel room was completely silent.

That is, until his phone started ringing. He pulled it from his pocket, answering with a confused, "Fallon?"

She hung up on him, which had his shoulders tensing in even further confusion. The bathroom door opened and his chin whipped towards it, only to see Fallon walk out looking sheepish and a little shaken.

"Fal?"

"I didn't realize it was you. I mean, I thought- well, obviously you have a key, so."

Liam sighed, stepping towards her with his hands extended, palm up. "I should've told you I was on the way back. I'm sorry."

She shook her head, taking his hands almost automatically. "It's st-"

"Don't," he cut her off, firmly but gently. "It's not stupid." Liam lifted one of her hands to press a kiss against the back. "But just know that me and Blake are looking into him. Okay? We'll take care of it so you can focus on work."

"I'd rather you didn't have to deal with it," she told him, shaking her head.

"Maybe you can make it easier for me, then," he suggested, leading her over to the bed. Liam waited for her to sit before pulling over the chair that had been pushed under the hotel room's desk. He sat down in front of her, trying to guess what the best way to go about this conversation would actually be. "Sam said you went to Adam's hometown."

"...We did. We went to where he said he worked, to try and find out about his whole doctor scandal."

Liam nodded, almost eager. "Can you just write down what you know for me? The wheres and whens of it?"

She agreed, so he reached over to the desk to pick up the notepad the hotel had provided. Fallon set it on her lap and took the pen he offered next, starting to write down everything she could think of that might help catch that monster.


End file.
